CCW Vegas 2021, which went from December 13 – 16, is one of the largest CCW events in the world, and Bright Pattern was honored to host a workshop! Bright Pattern’s workshop featured a panel of distinguished call center industry luminaries to give their take on what has changed in the contact center industry and the innovative ways they had to adapt their call centers to the new world. These panelists included Othmar Mueller Von Blumencron, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at VIPDesk, Jessica Osborn, IT Support Service Manager at Randstad, and Darren Alick, Senior Director of Customer Experience at YMCA of the North. The workshop also featured roundtable discussions, where the audience contributed the innovative ways their contact centers adapted to the new world.
Here are some key takeaways from Bright Pattern’s workshop at CCW Vegas 2021.
Innovation and Keys for the New World
One of the main themes from Bright Pattern’s workshop at CCW Vegas 2021 was the move to digital communication as well as the move to online shopping from the customer POV. In a post-COVID world, companies that adapt to mobile digital channels, empower workers to become knowledge workers, adapt to omnichannel conversations, and implement omnichannel quality management to ensure high customer satisfaction on 100% of interactions on all channels will be the winners.
To adapt to a post-COVID world and come out on top, there are many keys companies should follow to ensure that their business thrives. The keys to success within the contact center for the new world include:
- Communicating on Mobile Digital Channels
- Being Ready for Remote Work and Remote CX
- Personal, Effortless CX for Customers and Agents
- Empowering Agents as Knowledge Workers
- Monitoring Every Interaction on Every Channel Through Omnichannel Quality Management
Panelist Insights on Digital Transformation
During the workshop, the panelists shared CX challenges they faced, how they transformed their contact centers to adapt to the new world, and gave insight into how the transformation has helped their contact center and improved the CX they delivered to customers in the new, digital world.
Jessica Osborn of Randstad started with her experience in digital transformation and transforming her department’s contact center at Randstad. She was tasked with overhauling the contact center to become more mobile, flexible, and streamlined. Some of the challenges she faced with the previous infrastructure of her call center platform included a disjointed multichannel experience, where the technology to support different communication channels were hosted on different data centers. This problem became more apparent when Randstad was closing data centers to unify their international locations into one, manageable unit. This means that all of the different communication channels and technology at different locations needed to be integrated into one platform. Randstad also wanted to utilize AI to help the CX experience and needed a platform that can integrate best-of-breed AI.
Jessica decided to implement Bright Pattern’s omnichannel platform and helped her organization make the digital transformation from an on-premise call center solution to a fully cloud one. This digital transformation had drastically improved scalability for Randstad and made growing the business easier while being able to add advanced technology to power great customer service.
Othmar Mueller Von Blumencron of VIPdesk also drove digital transformation in his organization, mainly through the implementation of new digital channels in innovative use cases that customers can use to connect with the contact center. An example of innovative digital channels is the use of video chat for one of their customers, a luxury retailer. Once a channel that was only used by financial services and banking, video chat is being implemented in innovative ways to connect with customers and deliver better customer service when selling products and goods. Othmar added that digital channels that were once thought of as specialized and only utilized by a small demographic of customers are now becoming commonplace, especially in a post-pandemic digital world.
Othmar also gave his insight on how to successfully run a remote workforce. VIPdesk is an innovator, having a remote workforce long before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. From their experience in having a remote workforce for a long-time, one of the most surprising things is the caliber of agents VIPdesk was able to attract. Since the position was fully remote, VIPdesk was able to attract very qualified agents that would not have been interested if the position was in-person. VIPdesk provides customer service solutions for some of the world’s most luxurious brands. By being able to attract a wide range of qualified talent, VIPdesk was able to find highly motivated agents to provide the luxurious shopping experience that many of these brands wanted from their call center BPO. Another was increased retention of agents, especially during holiday seasons. Before the implementation of a partly remote workforce, VIPdesk would lose agents during the holiday season. But with remote work options, they were able to retain agents, even during the stressful holiday rush season.
Finally, Darren Alick of YMCA of the North discussed digital transformation in his contact center through the integration of Microsoft Teams with their Bright Pattern platform. The YMCA of the North used Microsoft Teams to facilitate conversation between team members to help deliver better CX to the members of the YMCA. With a lot of knowledge and capabilities within their internal MS Teams platform, Darren and his team wanted to implement chat, calls, and communication on the MS Teams as well as the wealth of knowledge within the Teams platform and apply that to the communication with end-users.
By integrating Bright Pattern with the MS Teams platform, they were able to communicate with customers over channels like voice and chat while allowing team members to bring in expertise from other team members and bring in a wealth of tribal knowledge into the conversation. By tying the YMCA of the North over MS Teams and integrating the Bright Pattern platform into it, Darren and his team were able to tie together over 6,000 employees, allowing these employees to share knowledge and deliver exceptional customer service.
Pain Points and Solutions During the Pandemic
The pandemic altered how many businesses deliver service to their valued customers. As many businesses transitioned to a fully remote workforce during the pandemic, they faced issues and challenges with making the transition.
During the workshop, roundtable discussions and brainstorms started among participants to discuss the issues they faced during the pandemic and the solutions they found to adapt to their new situation. Some of the key issues that many participants reported are:
- Trouble with Accurate Reporting and Metrics Tracking
- Issues Transitioning to Remote Due to Technological Limitations
- Managing and Motivating Employees
- Lack of Collaboration Between the Teams When Handling Customer Issues
- Hiring, Training, and Retaining Staff Remotely
- Handling Call Volume Surges.
While many of the participants faced these issues, they also came up with innovative solutions to help solve them. Solutions included:
- Implementing Microsoft Teams and Other Business Communications Tools to Promote Employee Knowledge Sharing
- Promote Company Culture and Conduct Team Bonding Activities Through Digital Communication
- Overhaul Training and Expand Knowledge Base to Help Agents
Bright Pattern for Digital Transformation
Bright Pattern’s cloud-based channel contact center software provides the tools your call center needs to adapt to any situation. Bright Pattern’s call center software has helped many companies jump over the hurdles that the pandemic put in their way, and solved the pain points that these businesses felt when they transitioned to a remote workforce. Bright Pattern provides powerful call center tools, like omnichannel capabilities, AI assistance, comprehensive CRM integrations, and more to help your business make the digital transformation.
Check out how Bright Pattern has helped companies adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic by checking out our video.
